26 [Wind and Earth! - part 1]
'What...'
"What do you mean Hinata-san..." My face went a little red as I tried and failed to dismantle the implications of her words and she blushed red too, realizing that her words could have been taken into a different sense...she bobbed her head from left to right as she tried to clear the misunderstanding…
"Ano...I mean you called me Hinata-chan on the boat didn't you… I mean I don't mind you addressing me with a less formal title, we are friends aren't we..." Her soft smile and stuttering words finally made sense as I realize that back on the boat I might have called her that… I lie down on the grass and look up towards the sky and the clouds floating by…
"Yeah, we are friends Hinata-chan...Thank you!"
I lie silently in the crisp grass, bathed in the orange light of the setting sun, each of us gazed at the glittering lake till the sun finally set… I sat up and dusted my clothes… Hinata and Shino soon followed me as we walked out of the training ground back towards the village…
"See you the day after tomorrow!" After saying that I jump on the nearby rooftop and made my way back home.
'hehe...Let's surprise mom...'
I went through a couple of hand-seals and used Henge to transform myself into a bruised version of myself… there was a huge cut on my chest, a black eyeball, and a bruised chest. My clothes were in tatters and my torso was fully exposed… I made my way towards the front door.
"I am HOME!" I ended my yell with a pained groan as I stumbled my way inside...I was just about to open the living room door when it opened and on the other side stood Mom and Dad…
'Oh, Dad's home already...perfect now I can have two targets...'
The smile on mom's face froze when she stumbled back into Dad… I smile a tired smile and waved a little while grunting painfully…
'...'
'...'
It took a second before Mom and Dad were on me frantically looking over my wounds as Dad ran towards the gate to call a doctor and mom was about to burst into tears…
I couldn't hold it in anymore and as mom came to smother me the Illusion broke and I returned back to my normal self with not a single scratch on me…
"Oops!" I started to back away from Mom and moved towards the stairs, taking momentary advantage of her confusion to reach the landing of the stairs before she dashed towards me and smothered me in her embrace…
'Oops! I may have gone a little too far here...' As mom was crying holding me at the base of the stairs I looked beyond her to see dad had an annoyed expression on his face and a tick mark above his eyes…
It took 20 mins to calm mom down and 10 minutes of scolding later we all were sitting at the dinner table where I told them how my mission went and why I am back home early…
'Maybe I shouldn't have done that because it seems like mom won't let me go out of the house again...' I finished my lunch and bade mom and dad a good night and moved towards the door…
"Tobi-chan!" 'nope...I am not turning back, I am almost safe...' my hand was inches away from sliding the door open when mom called out…
"Yes, Mom!" 'I won't be grounded, I am a grown man, a shinobi and she does not have any power over me anymore...'
"Tomorrow you will help me with shopping won't you"
I turn back to plead my case but upon noticing the smile on her face I quickly back peddled, made my way out of the room before replying, "Yes Mom!!"
*sigh*
'I need to move out soon...'
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'finally...Inspect'
[B-rank item: Chakra paper]
[Description: A piece of paper made from a special type of tree that reacts to the slightest hint of chakra in any number of ways, depending on the nature latent in the chakra. The chakra paper reactions are as follows:
Fire: The paper will catch on fire and turn into ash.
Wind: The paper will split in half.
Lightning: The paper will wrinkle.
Earth: The paper will turn to dirt and crumble away.
Water: The paper will become damp]
"I think it's time to give this to you, you have flown through most of the genin training exercises, and rather than channeling your energy into pranks…*glare*" 'damn you, mom! you betrayed me...' "You should do something productive with your time...So pour the same amount of chakra that you would use in a D-rank ninjutsu into the paper..."
I grumble at being told what to do again but still channeled some chakra into the paper… everyone on my team eagerly waited for the reaction of the paper when it suddenly got cut into two pieces and then the two pieces became dirt and crumbled away…
[Ping!]
[Elemental Affinity discovered]
'...Interesting...I never selected an element, so were they by birth or not...'
"What does that mean Kurenai-Sensei" I put on the innocent child look that I can still milk for a year or two…
"...well everyone has a natural alignment to one of the elements and in some rare cases some shinobi have a natural alignment towards two elements...according to the chakra paper, you have a natural alignment towards Wind and Earth...Here..."
She took out 5 scroll's from her pouch and after looking them over for a second threw two of them over to me...as soon as I took hold of them multiple notifications about new jutsu's and training technique appeared in my vision…
"These are some of the basic techniques and chakra manipulation exercises that you need to do in order to gain better control over your earth element..."
"As for the wind element, there are very few people in Konoha that have mastery over the wind element...I happen to know of one such person...soooo...Who's up for a field adventure!"
'Hmmm, she's blushing a little and her chakra is fluttering...damn it...who dares to make my sensei blush like that...'
I narrow my eyes as I imagine an imaginary person being crushed by my Iron dust...
